March 26, 2008

Mother's Grille update

The restaurant/bar will double in size when the new back sections open in mid- or late April.

The new space features new bathrooms (thank God) a 60 foot six inch bar (the distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate), a roll-down garage door, a bigger kitchen, curbside carryout and about 20 new flat screen plasma TVs.

Its nickname will be Mothers in the Alley. The goal is to better separate the dining area from the bar space, Rather said.

"It's a big deal," he said. "We've been working on it for many years."

Dodging meatheads

A week or two ago, Bowing Ben asked for a reprint of my very first nightlife column, about how to dodge meatheads in Federal Hill.

I re-read it a couple days ago and chuckled at some of the stuff I wrote in it.

I had just moved to Baltimore a couple months before, and was still getting to know the city.

Keep in mind: This was before Ryleigh's became the now uber-popular Ryleigh's Oyster.

Here's the piece ...

A bar night in Federal Hill can sometimes turn into a claustrophobic shovefest, with you versus a bumbling pack of loud, drunken meatheads.

To avoid this, you have to turn your night into a slow-moving game of tag: You hide in one bar until the zombies flood it and you scamper to another bar a couple of blocks over.

If you play well, your eyes won't water with smoke trails from a thousand cigarettes.

You won't have to cup your hand to your mouth and scream:WHAT'S YOUR NAME!?!?!

or

GIMME ANOTHER GIN AND TONIC!!

Here's one man's guide to a (mostly) fathead-free night out in Federal Hill.

Start early at a popular joint before it gets packed. We went to Mother's Federal Hill Grille (pictured, top) for some food about 9:30 p.m. one Saturday, in that nice little post-dinner crowd/pre-bar crowd window.

All-American fare was in order: a few of Brother Don's Big Phat Old Bay Hot Wings and a Big Buh Burger, washed down with a couple Mother's Brews. A medium-bodied beer with good flavor, draft Mother's Brews cost the same ($4.50) as draft Yeunglings and taste better.

After about an hour, the music started getting louder, and the bar area started filling up. We didn't have to deal with this up close (we were in the dining area), but hearing some dumb mid-'90s pop song (Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It") finally broke us.

This might be how we do it, but it's not Friday night, and we're not in middle school anymore. Time for us to move on.

We hunkered down, formed a line behind RJ (the big guy of the group), and elbowed our way through the sea of flesh and smoke.

We walked up East Cross Street looking for another half-full hangout when Robert Plant's high-pitched scream stopped us cold. It was Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love Medley" from BBC Sessions, blasting from No Way Jose Cafe's jukebox, and we were hooked.

While Jose's downstairs area is a little narrow, if you're there before it fills up, it's actually quite cozy. We snagged a few stools near the jukebox and started feeding it.

We ordered a few cool ones, and I looked for some salsa tunes on the jukebox to match the decor. After five minutes, I gave up and settled for the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar," because it reminds me of the South, which is as close as I could get to Mexico, musically.

Next came Ryleigh's (pictured, lower right), a clean and classy pub with lots of stained wood and exposed brick. An empty table on the upstairs balcony called to us.

It was well past midnight at this point, and while people still hung out downstairs, the upstairs area where we sat was nearly empty.

We were at a table, so we thought we should wait for a server to take our drink orders. We kept glancing over at the bartender and she kept glancing back at us. Stalemate.

Finally we broke down and ambled over to the bar.

The longer we sat and talked, the more people slowly sifted out the door, making it easier by the moment for us to hear ourselves. By 1 a.m., we couldn't believe our luck - we were almost alone upstairs. I chuckled at the thought of the sardines down the street stuffed into MaGerk's. Not us!

Tonight, at least, I would walk home with my vocal cords and my sanity intact. All in all, I was pleased with the way we dodged the goonies, and dubbed the night a success.

(Photo of Mother's from Sun archives; photo of Ryleigh's by Elizabeth Malby/Sun Photographer)

No stiffs among the bands and the first four played about 30 minutes each before Yellowcard, complete with a cello and violin, hit the stage for its acoustic show.

The Spill Canvas, which appeared on MTV's Total Request Live on Tuesday before heading to Towson, was the fourth band to take the stage and kicked the evening up a notch.

Playing a tight half-hour set, lead singer Nick Thomas led the band from Sioux Falls, S.D., through songs off their latest CD, No Really, I'm Fine. They closed with an absolutely smokin' version of "All Over You," the song and video that landed the band on MTV Tuesday.

The Spill Canvas (full disclosure here, the drummer is a family friend) has become a favorite at the Recher, having performed there just a few months ago as the headliner with a longer set.

Didn't make it all the way through the Yellowcard set, which was way past my bedtime, but I heard five songs and really liked that they are doing acoustic versions of the songs. The cello, and especially violin, made for an interesting, fun sound.

Although I missed Treaty of Paris' set, the bands seemed to complement one another and each seemed to have their own fans in the audience.

The Recher is a terrific venue for this type of show and the whole night was tailor-made for the college-age, MTV crowd -- and even for a few old folks, too.

"Harp's lifecycle was ill-timed with the precipitous decline of the music software industry, coupled with the consolidation of the consumer magazine newsstand business and rising paper and postage costs."

Homer's in trouble!

Those thieving thieves sent me this photo of Homer in danger!

Here's the letter:

Now homer is seeing the saw ... Stop being so pickey and argamentive with us...just do what we say ... remember unmarked billz ... where we said. Any more of you're sarcazam and we turn on the sawblade and yule begetting homer back in two peezes yours turly, badguyz

March 13, 2008

The Pogues @ Rams Head Live

At last night’s show, the Pogues’ songs about whiskey, rum, and spirited characters seemed like a perfect fit for Baltimore’s hard-drinking blue collar heritage.

After a lively — if not largely ignored — opening set by ska veterans The Pietasters, lead singer Shane MacGowan and his band mates played for almost two hours.

MacGowan’s gravely, sometimes slurry vocals showed the effects of decades of heavy smoking and alcohol use, but the combination of great instrumental work the tin whistle and banjo made up for it.

Even the state law prohibiting smoking indoors wasn't enough of a detriment, as MacGowan frequently lit up on stage — or had a glass out of reach.

For diehard Pogues fan or the casual Irish folk music listener, band staples such as "Broad Majestic Shannon" and "Dirty Old Town" proved to once again quench the appetite Baltimore has for energetic Irish music — especially so near to St. Patrick's Day.

Update on Homer

This email showed up this morning at 8:51 (the photo was attached):

Like i says before, we got your homer, and we be treeting him fine.Here's some pitchers attashed to this emails what show he's ok -- cep for maybe drinking too mcuh beers.If you want him to stay OK, do what we tol you to do. No POLICE! Jess keep your mouth shut and put the money where we said.If we don'ts get the money soon homer won't be so ok.Know what I'm sayin?Yours Turly,badguyz

New wine cabinets

In the next couple months, Patrick Russell, who runs Kooper's Tavern, Woody's Rum Bar and Slainte (pictured), is overseeing the installation of temperature-controlled wine cabinets in all three Fells Point bars.

Russell is applying for a package goods license for Slainte, which would allow him to sell high-end wines.

He's also thinking about making Slainte's second floor more wine-oriented.

Flynn has an apartment just across Charles Street, but he lives at the bar. That's one of the reasons why I love the place. But Liam's has been popping up on too many of these lists. So I'm retiring him after this one.

4. Roland Muir, Muir's Tavern, 36 E. Fort Ave.

It's all in the family at Muir's, and I like that. Old man Muir opened his bar back in 1944. His son, Roland Jr., still runs the place.

5. Bertha E. Bartholomew of Bertha's, 734 S. Broadway

Back in the day, Bertha's owner Tony Norris found a stained glass window dedicated to the memory of Bartholomew. No one knows who she was, but Norris named the place after her and hung the window above the bar.

March 2, 2008

'Raining in Baltimore'

Since so many of you commented on my post about songs with the word Baltimore in their title the other day, I thought I'd treat you to this lovely live clip of Adam Duritz performing "Raining in Baltimore" on piano in 1997.

Erik Maza is a features reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He writes for several sections of the Sun paper and contributes weekly columns on music and nightlife. He also writes and edits the Midnight Sun blog. He often covers entertainment, business, and the business of entertainment. Occasionally, he writes about Four Loko, The Block, the liquor board, and those who practice "simulated sex with a potted palm tree." Before The Sun, he was a reporter at the Miami New Times. He's also written for Miami magazine, the Orlando Sentinel, the Sarasota Herald Tribune and the Gainesville Sun. Got tips? Gripes? Pitches? He's reachable at erik.maza@baltsun.com. Click here to keep up with the dumb music he's listening to.

Midnight Sun covers Baltimore music, live entertainment, and nightlife news. On the blog, you'll find, among other things, concert announcements, breaking news, bars closings and openings, up-to-date coverage of crime in nightlife, new music, round-the-clock coverage of Virgin Mobile FreeFest, handy guides on bars staying open past 2 a.m. on New Year's Eve and those that carry Natty Boh on draft. Recurring features include seven-day nightlife guides, Concert News, guest reviews of bars and concerts, Wednesday Corkboard, and photo galleries, as well as reader-submitted photos. Thanks for reading.